


Full Moon

by HashtagLEH



Series: MerMay 2020 [3]
Category: Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Historical, Cheesy, Fluff, Happy Ending, Human Steve Rogers, Implied/Referenced Racism, Little Mermaid Elements, M/M, MerMay, Merperson Bucky Barnes, Merperson Steve Rogers, Minor Wanda Maximoff/Vision, Non-Serum Steve Rogers/Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes | Shrinkyclinks, Post-Serum Steve Rogers, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Prince Bucky Barnes, Romantic Fluff, Soulmates, Superstition, Witch Wanda Maximoff, historical time period not otherwise specified, i'm surprised that that is not a sorted tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-03
Updated: 2020-05-03
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:08:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23958967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HashtagLEH/pseuds/HashtagLEH
Summary: “You should never,everagree to something before you know all of the details,” Wanda said, frowning at him in chastisement. “This requires a continual sacrifice to keep the magic going. When you are a merperson, your body will lose the strength and size you now know. You will struggle to breathe with the body you are given, and every moment spent in the water will be one of pain. Your body will be fighting to return to human form, and thus you will slowly be drowning the entire time. When the full moon rises again, if you have not found your mate and completed the bond, you will breathe your last breath naturally before the water overcomes you and you drown as you were meant to.”“Oh,” Steve said, pondering that for a few moments before realizing that nothing she had said actually changed his mind. “I think – I still want to do it. I want to find – you said mymate?”“Yes, that is why you are so infatuated with him,” Wanda hummed. “Your souls connected when you touched. It is common among merpeople, although I have never heard of it happening between a mer and a human.”
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes & Natasha Romanov, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers
Series: MerMay 2020 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1724359
Comments: 16
Kudos: 146





	Full Moon

**Author's Note:**

> Just barely making day 3 of MerMay because it is a much longer one and took most of the day to write. I hope you all like it!

Like anyone, Steve had not expected this to be the day he died.

But, despite warnings from others about the time of day, he had gone out on his boat later at night.

The full moon was out, and it was the anniversary of his mother’s death, and he wasn’t going to let other peoples’ opinions sway him. When he had been a child, he remembered his mother staring up at the full moon each month in awe. It had been her favorite part of nature. Steve thought that it was somewhat poetic that she had died the night of a full moon. It had been three weeks before his thirteenth birthday.

That had been nineteen years ago, and now the full moon fell on the date of her death. He wanted to go out into the middle of the ocean, far away from the land, and stare up at the moon for a few hours in remembrance of her.

And he was certain, at the time, that he would be fine. The sky was clear, like it was giving him a sign that he was okay, that she was still looking down and watching over him, so he had brushed asides his friends’ concerns and gone out at sunset.

The storm had come out of nowhere, and Steve was obviously unprepared for it. His little rowboat had tipped into the water, and Steve was a strong swimmer but he was no match against Poseidon’s waters. He had quickly been forced under, deeper as he lost oxygen and his body forced him to inhale in instinct anyway.

He couldn’t see the moon anymore, whether because he was too deep under water or because of the storm clouds that must have been covering it, and he kicked himself for not having watched for signs of the storm and gone back earlier.

Suddenly he felt something grab at his leg, around his thigh, and he thrashed, kicking out without bothering to see what it was. Perhaps a demon, or a water spirit come to drown him. In the back of his mind, the part not occupied with trying to make sure he lived, he snorted to himself at the thought, because they could have easily waited a few more seconds – he was drowning just fine on his own.

But he was weak from lack of oxygen, and fading fast. He couldn’t fight the solid grasp around his arm – and, that felt very much like a _hand_.

He had a vague sense that he was being pulled upwards, and he turned his head to look at what it was that was dragging him.

He didn’t see much at first, but then lightning cracked across the sky, illuminating the sea around him, and allowed him to see a strong-looking man with gold around his arms, and his bottom half fading into a tail like that of a fish.

 _They’re real,_ he thought in wonderment, seeing a creature like out of his books.

His head broke water, and he gasped a huge lungful of air. The merman peered worriedly down at him, and Steve was entranced by the almost glowing quality of his eyes, as blue as the ocean on a clear day. Suddenly he wanted to know everything – not just about merfolk, who were apparently _real_ – but about this man in particular who had saved him from a watery death.

But it had been too long, and even with the gasp of oxygen, he didn’t even have time to cough up the water in his lungs that had been aggravated with the breath before the fuzzy edges in his vision finally took over completely, and he knew no more.

***

He woke up on the beach the next morning, the sky clear above him and the sun shining brightly down on him. He sat up, coughing a bit to relieve the pressure in his chest and looking around for his savior.

The beach was empty. By the tilt of the sun, he guessed that it was early morning, when there should have been fishermen sailing out a little ways.

But, looking up and down the beach, he realized that it was a few kilometers away from his village, and there didn’t seem to be any inhabitants nearby. He supposed that that was smart of the merman, if he wanted to remain a secret from humans.

That was alright, Steve supposed, rising on shaky feet to get back to the village. He would keep him a secret.

That didn’t mean he wasn’t going to try and find him, though.

***

It was the worst kept secret among the natives of the village that Wanda and her brother Pietro were actual, honest to goodness witches. They were uncertain about her beau Bettany, who had come to the village and immediately attached to the young woman with eyes that seemed to glow reddish-brown, but Steve privately thought that the man was a psychic, for how much he knew without having to be told. He didn’t mind – the man was as helpful and kind as anyone else in the village.

In any case, everyone in the village kept it a secret from the occasional outsiders and visitors to their small little community, because not everyone was kind to witches. Superstition abounded in the land, but Wanda and Pietro and Bettany were a part of their family so they were kept safe. But to people in the know, they gossiped like a bunch of old women. It was commonly known that you could trade things with Wanda for a healing potion disguised as medicine to cure an ailing child, or for insight into what choice they should make going forward in their life.

Steve wasn’t sure exactly what Wanda could do for him, but he didn’t know who else to turn to in order to find the man – the _mer_ man – who had saved him.

Wanda listened quietly as he told her the story of what had happened. She had no doubt heard the story that Steve had shared with every other worried person who had asked – that he had indeed been shipwrecked, but that he had been close enough to another shore that he had been able to swim there. He told them that he had spent the night in an over cropping of rock near the beach a few kilometers down – and that part wasn’t even a lie.

But if she _had_ heard the story, her expression didn’t betray surprise as she heard a completely different account from him the day after he had returned.

“So, will you help me?” he finished pleadingly.

She tilted her head slightly to the side. “Do you love him?” was what she said in reply.

“Yes,” Steve said immediately, and then blinked at his instant response, borne without a thought. “I mean…no? It’s strange. I know that I don’t know him. I haven’t even spoken to him, and I don’t know his name. But I feel connected to him, and not just because I think it’s cool that merpeople are real. I want to know _him_.”

Wanda hummed, and rose to her feet. Steve thought for a moment that she was going to dismiss him, but instead she went to the bookshelf behind her, reaching to grab one just over her height. Steve couldn’t see what the book was, but she seemed to know what she was looking for, turning the pages with deliberation until she finally reached one.

It was quiet for several long moments as she read over the page, and Steve fought not to fidget. Finally she licked her lips and looked up at him, sitting back in her chair with the book open over her lap.

“I can help you,” she said. “But I’m going to need a few things first.”

“Of course,” Steve said instantly. “Anything you want.”

“You misunderstand,” Wanda said with a shake of her head. “I am not asking for payment. I need ingredients.”

“Ingredients?” Steve echoed. “Like for a potion?”

Wanda’s mouth twitched upward slightly, like she was fighting a smile. “Of sorts,” she agreed. “What this will do is it will give you the abilities and appearance of a merperson. You must find your mate before the next full moon, or you shall drown in the very ocean you crave.”

“Yes, okay,” Steve agreed. And then – “Wait – my mate?”

“You should never, _ever_ agree to something before you know all of the details,” Wanda said, frowning at him in chastisement. “This requires a continual sacrifice to keep the magic going. When you are a merperson, your body will lose the strength and size you now know. You will struggle to breathe with the body you are given, and every moment spent in the water will be one of pain. Your body will be fighting to return to human form, and thus you will slowly be drowning the entire time. When the full moon rises again, if you have not found your mate and completed the bond, you will breathe your last breath naturally before the water overcomes you and you drown as you were meant to.”

“Oh,” Steve said, pondering that for a few moments before realizing that nothing she had said actually changed his mind. “I think – I still want to do it. I want to find – you said my _mate_?”

“Yes, that is why you are so infatuated with him,” Wanda hummed. “Your souls connected when you touched. It is common among merpeople, although I have never heard of it happening between a mer and a human.”

Steve’s eyebrow creased. “Just how much do you know about merpeople?”

Wanda laughed a little. “Certainly more than anyone else on land. But if you are certain, come back tonight. I will help you then.”

“Do you need the light of the moon to help your magic, or something?” Steve asked, only half joking.

Wanda gave him a dry look. “No,” she deadpanned. “I need a nap and some dinner. I’m a witch, not a machine. I’ll see you after dark, Steven.”

***

It took surprisingly little time to get over the fact that Steve could now breathe underwater, to convince his brain that he wasn’t going to drown. Just like breathing on land was automatic and done without thought, so too did breathing through gills become second nature to him within a few minutes of being submerged in the water.

Harder to get used to was his body.

He had been sick as a child, and he remembered being laid up in bed with cough and fever whenever the seasons changed. He had grown out of it as he got older, and these days he hardly ever got sick at all. He realized, as he struggled to swim through the water, that he had taken for granted the healthy body that he now had.

He had never thought too much about the creatures he had seen in books, because he had thought things like merpeople were nothing more than myths. Even then, he supposed that merpeople navigated and moved with their tails, and that the rest of their body was basically ornamentation.

But it was not like that at all. Turns out, they had to use their entire body to move forward, and not drift sideways as they did. It was slight, the undulation of his chest with the rest of his body as his tail flapped much more obviously, but it was just constant enough that Steve could feel muscles being worked in his chest that he had never been aware of. That, combined with his now much weaker body and the inability to take a full breath, made swimming very difficult.

Nevertheless, he pressed on, looking for some sign of other merfolk or sentient creatures; he wasn’t discounting the possibility that there would be others, now that he knew that merpeople were real.

After leaving the reefs though, there was a whole lot of… _nothing_. It was strange, because Steve had never been out this far and this deep – not while he was conscious, anyway – and he hadn’t expected it to be so barren, like an underwater desert.

He realized as time passed that he hadn’t really thought about the implications of being in the ocean, alone, until he found his…mate. (That was still a strange concept to wrap his mind around.) The first thing to get over, he realized, was finding food for himself. This wasn’t especially hard, because he had been a fisherman as a teenager and some things never really left you, so identifying ones good for food was easy. The hard part was stomaching the thought that he had to eat it _raw_ , from the bone, because of course fire would be impossible, under the water.

The next thing, he realized a few days into living in the ocean, was that there were _predators_ in the water.

He knew this on an intellectual level. But in practice? That was a whole ‘nother story, and his first up front meeting with a shark was very nerve-wracking.

It appeared the shark wasn’t hungry, though – or, as Steve scolded himself later, it was actually as large as he was, and therefore wasn’t a predator toward _him_. Really, he’d had no reason to be afraid of it.

But it _had_ served as a very clear reminder that there _were_ other predators who no doubt would love to feast on a lone merman who couldn’t swim very fast, or in a reliable straight line. After that, he was much more watchful in his travels as he tried to find someone he could ask to direct him to a merfolk colony, where hopefully the one who had saved him was.

This awareness as he moved also brought to his attention that somewhere along the way, someone had begun to follow him.

It was seldom at first, that feeling that he was being watched. It came and went, and he began to dismiss the prickle on the back of his neck as nothing more than paranoia, thanks to having to keep himself calm and very intentionally _not_ thinking about the fact that there were hundreds of kilometers below him that he couldn’t even see due to the darkness, the areas that the light _never_ touched. Surely the mind would begin to play tricks on him with that constant fear in the back of his mind that something was going to pop up out of the darkness, or that he would suddenly begin to sink so far that he would never see the light again.

He’d begun to get used to it – or at least, that’s what he told himself – when some… _creature_ had come out of nowhere, a long tentacle with large suckers lashing out at him. He only barely dodged it, ribs creaking in protest at the sudden movement, and he whipped around to see what looked like a ginormous black octopus-looking _thing_ reaching out for him again. It was as big as at least four houses combined, and Steve felt a frisson of dread and fear come over him at the sight of it. It was definitely more monster than animal, of that he was certain He couldn’t see any eyes, and he didn’t have time to search before a large black tentacle was slicing through the water toward him again.

 _This is it, this is how I die,_ he thought, before something wrapped around his bony wrist and tugged him upward, away from the grasping tentacles below. Steve startled at the rescue, hoping for a brief instant that the merman he’d been looking for had found him after all and saved him yet _again_ , but when he looked up he saw more tentacles.

He couldn’t help the instinctive thrash to try and get away, but the grip was unrelenting as he was pulled upward, closer to the sunlight, and then Steve was able to see that it wasn’t another monster – albeit a smaller one – but some other…mer-looking creature, but rather than a tail they possessed tentacles, like an octopus. He also realized that it was a woman, and flushed as he looked away from her naked torso.

“What the hell were you thinking, going into the deep like that?” the woman-octopus demanded once she apparently deemed them safe from the creature down below. Steve looked down, seeing that the monster was sinking back out of sight, and supposed that it must not like the sunlight. He looked back up at the woman when she spoke again. “Everyone knows to stay away from here!”

“Well, I didn’t,” Steve snapped, feeling defensive, and then he winced at the harsh tone. “I’m sorry. Thank you for saving me.”

She didn’t acknowledge the thanks, just peering at him carefully. Her eyes were green, and glowed with a similar quality to the one who’d saved him. “Why can’t you swim correctly?”

Steve shrugged a little, not wanting to tell her that he wasn’t actually a mer. He wasn’t sure what underwater culture was like, and he didn’t want to find out that octopus-people ate humans if she found out he was one.

“Why aren’t you with your pod, then?” she asked him when it was clear she wasn’t going to get an answer about his swimming abilities. “Surely the mers haven’t stopped caring about their weak.”

Affronted at that, Steve frowned and glared at her. “I’m not weak!” he protested.

“I’ve been watching you for days now,” she said flatly. “I’ve seen _exactly_ how strong you are. That doesn’t mean you’re a lesser person.”

By that point, Steve was unsure whether he should be offended at the casual insult or touched at the thoughtless reassurance about his value, said without pitying or even consolation, but like it was a simple fact. But then he realized – “So it’s _you_ who’s been following me!”

“Yes, we’ve established this,” she said dismissively. “I’m Natasha, by the way.”

“Steve,” he said, unsure what else to do but follow her lead. Looked like he was making friends today. Better than being giant octopus food, at least.

“So what are you doing out in the deep all alone, anyway?” Natasha asked him, her deep red tentacles glimmering in the sunlight breaking through the water. Her hair matched her bottom half perfectly, and floated around her in the water. If Steve didn’t already have a mate, he would’ve been attracted to her.

“I’m looking for someone,” Steve admitted. “I don’t really know where to start looking though, so I’ve just been wandering in hopes of finding someone sentient.”

Natasha raised a delicate eyebrow at him. “And is this person a mer?” Steve nodded. “So why are you looking so deep out here? Everyone knows mer pods are closer to shore, among the reefs and slopes.”

“Well, last time I saw him, he was out in the middle of nowhere,” Steve explained, hiding his relief at the new information that gave him some idea of where to go. “So I figure he’ll be here again.”

Natasha’s other eyebrow raised to join the first one high on her forehead. She clearly thought he was an idiot, and Steve was inclined to agree with her. He really knew nothing about the sea, just that it’s where fish came from. That meant nothing when you had to _live_ in it.

“I’m sure he has to go back home to sleep,” she said sardonically. “He doesn’t _live_ out here. Why don’t you look among the pods?”

“I suppose that would make more sense,” Steve admitted. “Why have you been following me, though? Why are you out here alone, not with your own pod?”

Natasha’s expression was flat, and if she hadn’t before, her expression told him that she _definitely_ thought he was an idiot now.

“I’m a cecaelia,” she deadpanned. And then, at Steve’s blank look, “We are a _solitary_ species?” Her tone went up at the end so that it came out sounding like a question, the “duh” very heavily implied.

“Right, of course,” Steve said like he’d forgotten, though really he’d had no idea. He’d never heard of that word before, either – “cecaelia”. He supposed it meant octopus-person.

“Well, good like finding your friend,” Natasha said, beginning to swim away. “Stay out of the deep, little shrimp.”

Steve felt a brief flare of indignation at the nickname, but it was quickly put out of his mind as she swam away, and he looked around, trying to get his bearings and figure out where the nearest shore was. Everything looked just as empty as it had before, though, with not even a piece of seaweed or a minnow floating by.

A tentacle touched the back of his arm, and he whipped around, expecting another monster and wilting in relief when instead he saw Natasha staring back at him, arms folded across her chest and an expression conveying how deeply unimpressed she was.

“You can’t find your way back, can you,” she said, her voice flat. It wasn’t really a question.

Steve shrugged sheepishly, and she sighed deeply like she was horribly inconvenienced, despite the fact that it was _she_ who had been the one to decide to return.

“You really are hopeless,” she said in exasperation. “Come on, then. I’ll help you find some mers who can help.”

Steve grinned and followed after her, trying to keep up with her faster pace. She used her tentacles to move, curling them all at once toward the center of her body, and then straightening them suddenly so that she was propelled forward with each thrust. Steve thought it was fascinating, but it was also just a little too fast. She noticed this quickly, and slowed to match his pace.

And, although he didn’t say it out loud, he was pretty sure that even though she was supposedly a solitary species, she really didn’t mind his company. He wondered if it was an octopus thing, or just a Natasha thing.

***

Steve never would have expected to make friends with a sentient underwater creature, and indeed hadn’t known they had even existed a month ago, and yet after a day he was fairly certain that he could count Natasha as someone quickly growing into the territory of honest friendship.

At one point, after a few hours of swimming, he had asked her why she had been following him. She had grumbled a bit at the question and not really given a complete answer, but he gathered that she had been worried upon seeing him alone and clearly not as strong as other mers, and had followed to make sure he was okay on whatever journey he was making. Steve was grateful she had, or he would’ve been some giant octopus’ meal and that was definitely _not_ the way he wanted to go.

He hadn’t realized how far he had traveled in the middle of nowhere until he was with Natasha, and noticed the passage of time a lot better because he had someone to talk to. After a couple of hours where they only saw the occasional fish, Steve had asked just how far out they were from the nearest mer pod, and she had answered with a brief, “About two days.”

However, they did reach the sea shelfs much sooner than that, and that was where they slept the first night. Steve had been startled and then amused when he had seen Natasha burrow her bottom half into the sand before folding in half over herself and then changing colors to blend into the sand. She reminded him of a sleeping cat when she did that, though of course he couldn’t say that because surely an octopus-person wouldn’t know what a cat was, and it would be strange if he did, too.

“So, who is this friend? What does he look like?” she asked him suddenly in their second day of travel.

“Oh,” Steve said, a little startled at the question although realistically he probably should have expected it. “He’s…well, he’s strong. His eyes are very blue, and his hair is dark. His tail is blue and he wears gold bands on his arms.”

Natasha stopped suddenly, giving him a strange look, and he floated to a stop in front of her, trying not to let on how he felt like his chest was burning with the strain of swimming. It was worse than when he had started out in the water, and it was already two weeks out from the full moon when he might drown. He hoped he found his mate soon.

“Does he happen to have a red star inked on his left shoulder?” she asked him in a carefully neutral tone.

Steve blinked at her, and tried to think back to when the merman had saved him. But everything was too blurry – he had been on the verge of passing out by the time he had seen him, and he didn’t remember anything about his arms besides that they were strong and that he was wearing those gold bands.

“I don’t…remember?” he tried, wincing because that sounded terrible but he honestly didn’t know what else to say.

She gave him an intense look, slightly distrusting, and he didn’t fail to notice that she floated a few inches back, away from him.

“What is his name, Steve?” she demanded, something hard in her voice that he didn’t understand.

But her question only caused him to wince further. “I don’t exactly…know his name.”

But whatever answer she had been expecting, that wasn’t it, because her expression betrayed her surprise for an instant before she went focused again. “What exactly is going on, mer?” she said, and Steve had never expected a species to sound like an epithet, but somehow Natasha managed it. “Why are you so intent on finding someone whose name you don’t even know, and apparently don’t remember the appearance of?”

Now, Steve had two choices here. He could keep being evasive, and surely that would end up sending Natasha away, because why stay with and help someone you couldn’t even trust? Or, he could tell her the truth, and hope she wasn’t the type to eat humans.

Seeing as he had known her for a whole day now, he didn’t really _know_ her, or much about her species because he felt like it would be pretty rude to ask, never mind the fact that that would reveal that everything about underwater life was new to him. But still, he felt like they had a big enough rapport by now that even if she _did_ eat humans, she probably wouldn’t eat _him_.

Probably.

“Okay, so don’t freak out,” Steve started with, and Natasha’s expression grew more alarmed and yet somehow still harder at the same time. He winced again, but pressed on, “I wasn’t actually _born_ a…mer. I’m human.”

Natasha’s eyes went pointedly down to his very much _not_ -human tail, and then looked back up at him, raising an eyebrow in wordless question.

“A witch – on land, I mean – she did something so that I could be a merperson, for a little bit,” Steve went on. “I’m trying to find the merman who saved me.”

“Saved you,” Natasha said flatly, expression betraying nothing.

Nevertheless, Steve nodded. “I was drowning,” he explained. “There was a storm, and I was knocked out of my boat. This… _man_ – he saved me. And I couldn’t stop thinking about him or wanting to be with him, and Wanda – that’s the witch who helped me – she said that we were mates, so that would give me power to find him. But I only have until the next full moon to ‘complete the bond’, whatever that means, or I’ll drown – for real this time. That’s why it’s hard for me to swim – I’m slowly drowning as time passes. So I get tired a lot more easily. Also, I’m not used to the movements. It’s weird.”

Natasha’s green eyes watched him carefully, clearly looking for any sign that he was lying, and Steve tried to make his face seem as trustworthy as possible, because without her help – he didn’t really know what he would do. And her expression wasn’t betraying whether or not she believed his story.

“I suppose this explains how you can look so old but still so sick,” was what she finally said. At Steve’s confused look, because he really hadn’t expected _that_ to be what convinced her, she said, “The sea is a dangerous place, Steve, and it’s survival of the fittest. If you had been born as sick as you are now, you would not have made it past your guppy years.”

Steve supposed that made sense. “So you’ll still help me?” he asked hopefully. “Even though I’m a human?”

Natasha sighed, and her form relaxed into the Natasha he had come to know, the one who was more okay with showing her emotions. “Sure,” she said like she was very put-upon, but Steve was as certain now as he had been before that her reluctance was all an act. She wouldn’t have stuck with him this long if it wasn’t.

“Come on,” she said, and they began to swim again.

Suddenly he remembered Natasha’s leading questions from before, and looked over at her. “Do you think you might know the one that I’m looking for?” he asked her hopefully.

“Perhaps,” she said neutrally. “Hard to say. There are a lot of mermen with dark hair and a blue tail.”

“What about the gold bands?” he pressed, noticing what she didn’t say. “Do a lot of them wear gold bands on their forearms?”

She smirked a little, looking almost proud that he had noticed her evasion. “No. Only one merman wears gold bands on his forearms.”

“Well, that narrows it down a lot!” Steve said excitedly. “Do you know him? Do you know where he lives?”

Natasha’s smirk grew as she glanced over at him. “Just about everyone knows him,” she said casually. “His name is Bucky. He lives at the Winter Palace.”

Steve blinked, stunned at this information and its implications, and repeated just to be sure, “Palace?” His voice did _not_ squeak on the word, and he would deny it to his dying day.

“Of course,” Natasha shrugged. “Where else would the Prince of the Deep Waters live?”

***

Steve wasn’t sure he could wrap his mind around the fact that it was a _prince_ who had saved him. He was a poor man from a small village; he had never thought that he was worth all that much, if anything, to the crown on land. Even his village would go on without him if he died suddenly – he wasn’t an integral part of anything.

And he knew, logically, that this…“Bucky” (and wow, that was a strange name) operated in a completely different world. Perhaps the people of the sea cared about living creatures so much more.

But still, it was strange to think that someone with such an important role had reached out to help _him_.

At the same time however, he hadn’t even known that a world like this _existed_ , and yet there was a kingdom here with some sort of hierarchy that people on land wouldn’t care about even if they _did_ know. It kind of put into perspective how little the kingdom he lived in on land actually mattered.

Natasha, at least, didn’t seem impressed with the implications of a kingdom – from what Steve could tell, it hardly mattered to her someone’s rank, what mattered was the person. He was glad about that bit, because if she had cared about status then she certainly wouldn’t have helped him when she thought he was just a mer, let alone when she found out he was a human turned into one.

Once she knew who he was looking for though, she told him that the palace was just a day and a few hours farther than she had originally anticipated. Steve told her he didn’t mind the extra time, but in truth he was noticing more and more as breathing became just a little bit more difficult, and he had to stop for breaks more often in his swimming. Natasha didn’t say anything about it directly, but he was sure she noticed.

But, at the rate they were going and with the time Natasha had estimated, they would get to the palace with an entire week before the full moon, so even if something set them back a bit Steve was certain that they would still have plenty of time.

After revealing that he had grown up a human, he had half expected Natasha to start asking him questions about what it was like on land, because Steve himself wanted to ask more about what it was like living in the sea. But she hadn’t asked him anything about it, and he wondered if she was honestly not curious or if she just didn’t want him to know that she was curious.

She was willing to answer questions he had though, and it served to give him a greater picture of what to expect after meeting Bucky. She spoke like he was obviously going to live in the sea for the rest of his life, and Steve wasn’t honestly inclined to disagree. He held out making plans though, because as the time drew nearer that he would meet his mate, his anxiety and doubts began to grow. After all, what if Bucky didn’t feel the same way that Steve did? What if he saved humans from drowning all the time, and Steve hadn’t even been a blip on the radar? Steve didn’t want to have expectations only for them to be shot down, so he tried not to have any.

He was pretty sure that Natasha wasn’t fooled, but then he had a feeling that she wasn’t fooled by _anyone_.

They made it to the palace at roughly the expected time, but it was drawing closer to nightfall rather than the mid morning Natasha had predicted a couple of days before. Steve was too busy getting his breath back to feel guilty about slowing them down.

Natasha insisted that it would be better to go in the morning, because in the sea it was apparently more polite to wake a mer for a surprise visit rather than keep them awake longer and shake up someone’s plans unexpectedly in the night. Steve supposed that made sense, but as they settled down on a shelf out of the way of nearby residences, he pouted a little bit to himself that he would have to wait even _longer_ to see Bucky again. It was difficult, because it almost felt like there was a tug in his core that only pulled more insistently the closer he got to the palace. He wasn’t sure though whether it was the bond or just his own nerves; he could see it going either way. And after all, he knew _nothing_ about these bonds that merpeople had, so he really shouldn’t assume anything, one way or the other.

The night sky was clear, on the other side of the water, and Steve stared through its ripples at the moon just beginning to wax. He wondered if Bucky was staring at the same moon.

***

As soon as the sun was high enough in the sky that the surroundings were illuminated in light, Steve and Natasha were off toward the palace. It was clearly more of a city center, the closer they came, because Steve began to see more mers up close than any he’d seen the night before, from farther away. They were all almost freakishly strong and large, with visible muscles and even tattoos. Steve tried not to stare as they swam by in couples and families, vibrant tails shimmering in the morning light. Many of the women were topless as well, which still felt incredibly strange and awkward to Steve even after spending the last few days with Natasha, but some of them had some types of coverings that were clearly meant more for style than functionality. Even those were revealing though with stomachs or arms freed, and Steve tried not to make it obvious that he was uncertain where to look, everything so incredibly _new_.

“How are we even getting into the palace?” Steve fretted, not noticing as Natasha grew more tense and withdrawn with every mer they passed. “Won’t there be guards? Are they even going to _believe_ me that Bucky is my mate?”

“Probably not,” Natasha said tersely. “But that means we throw up a fuss to be seen by a member of the royal family, and they will have to fetch them just to prevent a scene. If that happens though, I’ll need to get out before it gets heated.”

Steve blinked at scrunched his eyebrows at her. “What? Why? Are you like…wanted, or something?”

Amusement flickered briefly over her face for a moment before it was gone, her eyes tracking everyone again, like she was anticipating an attack. “No. But I’m more likely to be thrown in jail than you are – they don’t trust cecaelias all that much.”

Steve halted suddenly, surprised at this new information and heart dropping with a sick feeling in his gut. He opened and closed his mouth several times before he managed, “I’m sorry. We have stuff like that on land too, but…” He shook his head, and his eyes went hard. “It’s not right. And don’t worry – if you get arrested I’ll get you out. I won’t leave you behind.”

Natasha’s eyes went to him, lips turning up in amusement at his protectiveness. She clearly didn’t believe that he would be capable of doing anything for her, but she appreciated the sentiment all the same. “Thanks,” she said, and then tilted her head toward the palace. “Let’s go. The doors are just up ahead.”

Steve still had a mulish expression on his face when they got to the front doors, but they were both surprised when they were let in without much more than a skeptical glance after they shared their reason for coming. Steve nodded his thanks to the dark-skinned mermaid with the spear at her side. He had never seen a healthy woman with no hair before. He wondered if it was natural or if she shaved it, but it would _definitely_ be rude to ask, so he held his tongue and followed Natasha into the palace courtyard.

“Well, aren’t _you_ adorable,” someone said, and Steve looked over to see a mermaid with long dark hair and incredibly blue eyes that matched her tail, watching the two of them with a little smile. She rose from what appeared to be some sort of garden, and Steve thought she looked vaguely familiar, though of course that was impossible because he’d never met her before.

“We’re here for Bucky, Princess,” Natasha said, and though the words were deferential the tone was not. Steve thought it odd, how it was spoken with an almost familiarity, and even Natasha’s posture and body language had relaxed a bit from what it had been outside.

The mermaid gasped, pressing a hand to her chest like she was in shock, though she was very clearly amused. “It’s just ‘Princess’ now? I haven’t seen you in years and you’ve forgotten my name? That hurts, Tasha, really.”

Natasha rolled her eyes and looked at Steve, who was watching the conversation quietly. “Steve, this is Becca,” she introduced, and the pretty brunette gave a dainty little wave of acknowledgement. “She’s Bucky’s sister and is as big of a squidhead as he is.”

Steve would wonder later how it was that it had never come up in their journey that Natasha knew his mate enough to be on a first-name basis with the rest of the family, but right then he latched onto the fact that this was Bucky’s _sister_. Which meant that she must be able to lead them to him.

“You’re Bucky’s sister?” he blurted. “Can you take us to him?”

Becca raised an eyebrow. “What’s got you so excited? Who are you – Natasha, should I be concerned?”

“I’m his mate,” Steve answered before Natasha could speak. “I’ve been looking for him.”

Becca narrowed her eyes suspiciously at him. “How did you meet?” she quizzed.

Steve paused, because he wasn’t sure she knew that he was a human, and he didn’t want to risk being turned away because of it. After a moment, he answered evasively, “He…saved me.”

“From?” the mermaid prompted.

“It was in a storm,” Steve skirted the answer again.

Becca stared at him intently for several long seconds, before her expression lightened and she grinned. “From drowning?” she clarified, and when he nodded at her with a bit of hesitation, she clapped her hands joyfully. “You’re the human!” she cheered. “Oh man, Bucky has been pining after you for _weeks_! But – how did you get a tail? And why are you so small? And why are you with Natasha? Not that I’m not happy to see you girl, but it’s been _years_.”

Steve sighed at the questions, but he supposed it didn’t hurt anything to answer. So, he briefly summed up everything that had happened since the near-drowning almost a month ago. When he got to the part about how he was slowly drowning though, she stopped him.

“Oh man, then we ought to get you to Bucky!” she exclaimed, and led them to the doors to go inside. “He should still be here – he doesn’t normally leave until midday, and he’s been pining after you near the shore for _way_ too long. He keeps going out to see if he can see you on land, but he’s been pretty depressed that he hasn’t gotten even a _glimpse_ of you in like, three weeks. I guess this explains why, though. Man, that is ironic. He was ready to go and find the Scarlet Witch to try and join you on land, but it’s a real good thing he didn’t. Talk about a comedy of errors.”

Steve’s nerves grew as they went through the palace, and therefore drew closer to coming face-to-face with his apparent mate. He wasn’t on the verge of passing out this time, so he was going to be a lot more aware and suddenly that seemed very stressful.

Steve wasn’t sure where exactly they were going, but he was certain that the middle of the hallway wasn’t it when suddenly a _beautiful_ merman came barreling out from one of the rooms and then halted suddenly at the sight of them.

Steve was unsure that he would reliably recognize Bucky, due to aforementioned lack of complete awareness last time, let alone whether Bucky would recognize _him_ because he was obviously much smaller and didn’t have legs.

But in the instant that he made eye contact with the gorgeous merman who had saved him, something inside him sighed and went, _Oh. There you are._

Steve’s cheeks hurt, and he realized abruptly that it was because he was smiling so hard, but he couldn’t stop himself even once he knew. He had drifted closer to Bucky without being aware of it, and now the larger man reached out, taking Steve’s hand in his own – gently, like he was something precious.

“Hi,” Bucky said softly, eyes drinking him in.

“Hi,” Steve breathed back. “I’m Steve. I’m told this means we’re mates.”

Bucky clearly knew that by “this”, he meant the feeling surging within them that insisted they be close to each other, and he nodded, looking a bit dazed. “Yeah,” he agreed. “I’m Bucky. I’m real glad you’re here.”

Steve didn’t know if it was the bond pulsing between them, or if they just had the same idea at once, but either way their lips met in the middle in a welcoming kiss, and happiness and content flooded them both.

And with that, Steve was suddenly able to breathe again.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked it - let me know! And if you have ideas you want to see during MerMay, I am open to those as well! 
> 
> Watch me slowly lose my mind on [ Tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/hashtagleh) :)


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